Friday, March 18, 2011

The job offer] couldn’t have come at a better time. Tim’s unemployment benefits were about to run out [he had been unemployed since July 2009]. He could hardly believe what the voice on the other end was presenting to him — an offer to be a job foreman for at least 11 months, with a salary of $65,000 to $70,000 a year.

Perfect, Tim thought. Then came the bad news — he would be working on construction of a new Planned Parent­hood Clinic in St. Paul on University Avenue. The highest of highs became the lowest of lows as he quickly turned down the offer.

“The roller coaster started going downhill,” said Tim, 38. “He [the union rep] wasn’t really sure if there were going to be abortions there. He kind of sidestepped that, I think, to try to entice me to say yes. But, I said, ‘Wait a minute. It’s a Planned Par­ent­hood.’”

And, just like that, Tim went back to being unemployed with no immediate prospects — and his unemployment benefits set to run out sometime this month... (The Catholic Spirit)